@audiolabryinth. It is used. They don't make them anymore. It is the sc7s2 marantz preamplifier. It is in champagne color and it is absolutely the most beautiful piece of equipment I have ever purchased. It is heavy and built like a tank. It is in pristine condition with no scratches on it. It sound great. It is warm and very musical. It gives you a mid hall perspective however I put some cables made by a European company vovox on them along with the tara labs 2 ex with ism interconnect with my clarus crimson speaker cable and it sounded great. It brought the sound stage up more to my liking. The sound is one that is musical. It is very non fatiguing. The highs are a little rolled off slightly but they are well extended and you don't lose detail. This piece is unique because it is slightly warm but you don't lose transparency or detail. We went to my friend golden sound house first. The first system we tested was with gato pm6 speakers, atlas mavros speaker cables, nordost Tyr interconnect, tara labs 2 ex ism interconnect, mark levinson amplifier 532 h, parasound cd1. With the ear 868 and using telefunkins as tubes. The ear has a glorious midrange and the voices were great but it sounded like there was a glow in that area compared to the marantz. It was a great sounding glow but to me it's not realistic sounding. It has kind of a faux jump factor in the midrange. Its great for vocals but the Marantz sc7s2 does more in terms of long listening sessions with my quartet jazz. It won't wow you it just takes in what you feed it and gives you back sweet music that you can listen to for long extended periods. I used the marantz sc7s2 with the parasound cd1 and the Macintosh mcd301. The parsound was a great listen and is the better player out of the two in the ear 868 combination. However the Macintosh mcd301 sounded better on my marantz sc7s2 with the vovox cables and we tried some mit hd 50 RCA interconnects as well that sounded great. However in my system with the marantz the Macintosh mcd 301 sounded better than the marantz parasound cd1 combination. With the ear 868 the parasound cd1 was great it gave the music great organics and widened the soundstage. When we put the parasound cd 1 in with the ear 868. It easily beat the other player hands down. However on the Marantz sc7s2 the cd1 does not mate together well. So I left my friends house and I took the marantz home to try in my system. I use vienna acoustics beethoven baby grands symphony edition/ classe ca 2200 amplifier/ clarus crimson speaker cables/ vovox textura interconnects / tara labs 2 ex with ism on board/ oppo 95 CD player /marantz sc7s2 reference preamplifier. With this combination at home I had a 6 hour listening session with cecile mclorin salvant, Gerald Clayton, terra lynn carrinton, chris Botti live in boston and Miguel zenon. I got a great sound out of this combination the tara labs 2 ex gave it some separation and live feel with Great organic layering. The vovox gave it body and separation and extended the highs and fleshed out the midrange and voices more. It did not have the glow of the ear 868 but it was a pleasing sound that didn't just spotlight one area. You paid more attention to the musicians as opposed to the female vocals. I also got great performance out of the oppo 95 as my source. This oppo 95 player benefits greatly from great balanced interconnects and great power cords if you can add them. I used a cable from the uk from clearer audio called the silver line Optimus. The parasound cd 1 also sounded great but I liked the oppo 95 more in this system. The parasound cd 1 with the ear 868 in the other system hit home runs but in my home system using the marantz sc7s2 I was very happy with the oppo 95. I got a 6 hour listening session in so that tells you that you have some secret music sauce cooking to listen that long. In closing, the marantz sc7s2 is a keeper. Remember however, it's all about system matching. Some equipment and cables will sound better in other applications. It is all system dependent. Changing one major piece can change your whole sound. A different amp, pre amp, CD player or source and/or a speaker can change what you hear. Also look at your room acoustics, speaker placement and seating position. These are othe factors to consider. I hope this extensive review helps someone.
